‘The Rainmaker’ is officially All Elite, and we now know more regarding his contract.
Former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada’s contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling officially expired on January 31st earlier this year, with ‘The Rainmaker’ wrestling in his last match in his home country on February 24th. This past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite saw Okada officially join AEW as he aligned with The Young Bucks, joining The Elite in the process as the trio beat down Eddie Kingston.
We now know more about his deal with the promotion, as according to a report from Tokyo Sports, Okada’s AEW contract is set to see him earn a total of ¥2 billion over a period of three years, equating to roughly $4.5 million per year.
“The terms of the contract are “3 years and 2 billion yen,””
-Tokyo Sports
Shortly following this report, Fightful Select followed up with a report of their own, first noting that, despite long-term interest, Okada’s AEW contract hadn’t been officially signed until recently.
The report then delves deeper into the deal, noting that Okada is expected to move to the US and work a full-time schedule before corroborating Tokyo Sports’ report regarding the financial aspect of his contract.
“Okada is expected to be full-time with AEW, and is planning to relocate to the United States. We aren’t told if this was his idea or recommended by AEW, but he is expected to work a complete schedule. A Tokyo Sports article claimed that the deal was for three years, and roughly $4.5 million per year. We can confirm those numbers.”
-Fightful Select
Whilst both Tokyo Sports and Fightful Select are in agreement on Okada’s salary, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter today reported that these figures are inaccurate, noting that the real number is much lower than initially reported, however is still a very sizeable deal.
“Okada signed a three-year deal. Tokyo Sports reported Okada signed a three-year deal at 2 billion yen ($13.5 million) over the course of the period of the contract, or an average of $4.5 million annually, but that number is not accurate at all. The real number is considerably lower, but it was still a very large number that he signed for.”
-WON
Moving away from the financial aspect of the deal, Fightful additionally reported that the decision to have Okada debut as a heel alongside The Young Bucks with Kenny Omega being kicked out from The Elite amidst his absence was a decision made months ago, with the idea being to set the stage for an eventual angle despite there currently being no timescale for Omega’s return.
Prior to Okada becoming ‘All Elite’, reports were also circulating that WWE were highly interested in acquiring his services. Fightful Select’s report touched on WWE’s efforts to sign the 36-year-old, noting that Okada had reached out to WWE talent, with the former NJPW star at least considering making the move.
“WWE claims there were no talks between the two sides, though we can confirm with WWE sources that Okada had reached out to WWE talent while weighing his next move, and had considered the possibility in going to WWE. At one point, we’d even heard he’d showed renewed interest in possibly going back in January.”
-Fightful Select
Kazuchika Okada is set to make his AEW in-ring debut alongside The Young Bucks as ‘The Elite’ in trios action during this upcoming Saturday’s Collision.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Kazuchika Okada’s AEW contract as soon as we hear more.
